Becks a cut above

HAVING put England back on track for Euro 2008 qualification, David Beckham now heads back to Real Madrid intending to wrap up the Spanish league title. And then it's off to the land of the football Philistines. What a waste.

HAVING put England back on track for Euro 2008 qualification, David Beckham now heads back to Real Madrid intending to wrap up the Spanish league title.

And then it's off to the land of the football Philistines. What a waste.

Six months ago we all assumed that Becks was washed up, unable to pin down a place in a struggling Real Madrid team, snubbed by Steve McClaren's England and lining up a golden retirement pension in Los Angeles.

And yet in the unfashionable footballing backwater of Tallinn, Beckham proved that he is still one of England's few players of true quality.

It was not just the goals he created for Peter Crouch and Michael Owen with crosses of exceptional quality which singled him out. It was his all-round contribution, even with an ankle injury.

The man who occasionally used to carry England on his slim shoulders with indefatigable work-rate, passion and those zinging free kicks, is back.

The zest and demand for involvement are also back and that makes Becks a hard man to ignore next season, regardless of whether he has to make strength-sapping flights to and from California.

He gave McClaren exactly what has been missing from England for the last two years - match-winning quality. He has also infected teammates with a little more vigour - Alan Smith spoke last week of the "freshness" Beckham's re-appearance had brought to the squad.

And he even papered over the major glaring crack in this England team by providing goals for Crouch and Owen.

There is little wrong with the defence, even without automatic first choices Gary Neville, Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand and the midfield, especially with Beckham back, has its quota of ability, even if it is not always a smooth-running machine.

Hustle

But once you get to the front two, the real difficulties start. With Wayne Rooney suspended, the strike-force was poverty-stricken.

Owen had been hustled back into the team despite being without a goal for club or country in 11 months - it showed, as he was two yards off the pace.

That meant England were left to rely on the height of Crouch as the source of most of their threats, a sorry state of affairs.

It worked, of course, as Crouch headed on Wayne Bridge's long throw on 37 minutes for Joe Cole to crash in a superb half-volley.

After that, it was down to Beckham's remarkable crossing ability as he virtually bounced one ball off Crouch's head and then did the same off Owen's right boot for the third goal.

But against better teams than the planet's 110th-ranked country - below Ethiopia and the Cape Verde Islands - relying on long-ball tactics and Beckham's impeccable delivery would be, and has been, fatal.

None of this is McClaren's fault, although he has been bearing the brunt for problems which run much deeper.

Just as he had at Middlesbrough, the former United assistant manager has to make do with too many second-rate players to ever be in a position to challenge the top teams.

Graham Taylor got it spot-on this week when he described England as a "quarter-final team" and expressed his fear that the growing dominance of foreign players in the Premiership could be sending the national team down the same rocky path which Scotland have trodden in recent years.

They looked fine against Estonia, but that is not a yardstick for a national team with such expectations.

Beckham finally limped off with the game won, and the sight of Kieron Dyer trying to fill his boots merely emphasised the fact that he is, once again, a clear first choice on the right for England.